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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

It’s been said that location is another character in a
story. I think that’s true if the
setting is described well enough and with enough detail for the reader to actually
imagine it.

Some authors are known for certain locations. Most of Susan Isaacs’ novels take place in
Nassau County, Long Island. I grew up
there and it’s one of many reasons I like her books so much. For me, it’s an
opportunity to go back and visit the towns I knew without dealing with all the
traffic. Another writer who uses real
places and writes about them so well that you feel you’re there is Harlan Coben. Many of his books are placed in Livingston,
New Jersey and the surrounding area. I
lived in that area of New Jersey for twenty-three years and it’s where I raised
my children. Again, reading his books is
like taking a trip home without having to get into the car.

There are other writers whose settings are not my home town
and yet I love the authenticity that these writers’ location descriptions bring
to their work. Irish writer Marian
Keyes’ New York wasn’t mine, I lived there in the seventies. She writes about New York in the
nineties. When she writes about Dublin,
I feel as if I took a trip there and that my relatives must know her characters. It’s the same with Jennifer Weiner. I just came back from a few days in Philadelphia. It’s a city only two hours from where I’ve
lived most of my life but which for some reason I’ve only visited a handful of
times. But when I was there I had a
secure feeling of familiarity mixed with the pleasure of discovery when I
figured out where I was going and I give Jennifer Weiner’s Philadelphia books
much of that credit. I could go on
forever citing examples, but I think I’ve made my point. Places that we know described accurately and
well are a comforting pleasure. Even
when we don’t know them, books provide a way of seeing a place we may never get
to visit.

I don’t think that’s the intention of the authors. Certainly it wasn’t mine when I based a
number of my books in New Jersey in the town where I lived and in the city
where I worked. I chose those locations
because I knew them well. It was
easier. But I also put Suddenly Lily in
Jersey City because I love those brownstone neighborhoods. In another life I would have liked to be
young, single and living in one. The setting for my other two books, Conflict
of Interest and Second Act for Carrie Armstrong, is even more obvious. When I was writing those books, I was living
in Maplewood so it seemed natural to place them there. I didn’t have to do any research. I already knew my subject very well and if I
wasn’t sure of something, I could always go for a ride.

So what’s the downside of making real places settings for
books? Even if you create an alternative universe in your real location, there
is always the chance that you will make a mistake. I was lucky that my editor for Suddenly Lily,
Faith Black, actually lived in Jersey City.
She immediately picked up on my calling Hamilton Park, Hamilton
Square. That kind of careless mistake
can lose a reader and certainly goes to breaking the spell that we writers hope
to cast. For that reason, just before
sending off the final draft of Conflict of Interest, I emailed a friend who had
grown up in Elizabeth to make sure I had my street names right for the car
chase. I doubt I have a big readership
in Elizabeth, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t have someone who at the
very least grew up there. Thanks to my friend, I got it right.

What about fictitious places? Why do some authors prefer to
create their own towns and not use real ones? Nora Roberts’ Chesapeake towns
feel real and are based on an area of the country that she knows well having
grown up there, but the towns themselves are made up. Claire Cook lives in Scituate, Massachusetts,
but her books take place in a town that sounds like Scituate, but is called
something else. My critique partner,
Joani Ascher, bases her amateur detective Wally Morris in Grovesvenor that
seems an awful lot like the town she lives in New Jersey. I haven’t discussed this issue with either
Nora or Claire since I don’t meet with them to discuss writing, but I have
asked Joani. Her reasons make sense. She doesn’t have to worry about making a
factual mistake, or having a reader think she is writing about them, and it
gives her some latitude. That’s probably
all true, but I go back to my original thought.
I like to read about familiar places because of the comfort and fun I
get recognizing the local sights or being the armchair traveler if I can’t get
there.

Deborah Nolan author of Suddenly Lily and Conflict of Interest published by Montlake Press and Second Act for Carrie Armstrong published by Desert Breeze Publishing.

3 comments:

I so agree with the first sentence of this post. Setting, when it's done well, is another character and adds texture to the story. I've used both real places and made-up ones in writing and have to say making up your location is easier - and safer.

I'm a huge fan of the setting as a character. One of my favorite novels - Rebecca - makes tremendous use of the setting as an dark character - Manderly. And I recognize that familiar settings have an immediate audience, even if I don't exactly practice that. :) The WIP has a fictitious setting, based on the mood of a real place.